9 posts from May 2016

At the start of Thomas More‚Äôs Utopia the narrator describes a fictional meeting with a stranger in Antwerp. The man is sunburned, his beard is untrimmed, his cloak hangs carelessly from his shoulder. He appears to be a sea-captain. Later, the narrator is informed that ‚Äėthere is no human alive who can give you more information about unknown peoples and lands, and I know you are very eager to hear about them.‚Äô After some description of exotic lands and mythic beasts, the sea-captain ‚Äď Raphael Hythloday ‚Äď tells the narrator about a place called ‚ÄėUtopia‚Äô, a Communist island of religious toleration where a national system of education is open to both men and women. The island‚Äôs inhabitants work for only six hours a day and have access to free healthcare. Divorce and euthanasia are legal. The word, ‚ÄėUtopia‚Äô means ‚ÄėNowhere land‚Äô.

The Frontispiece of the original edition of 'Utopia', showing the fictional, Utopian alphabet. Published in Louvain : Arte Theodorici Martini, 1516 (C.27.b.30.)

More‚Äôs Utopia ‚Äď a radical work of political fiction -- is one of the most influential texts in the Western literary and philosophical tradition. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the work‚Äôs publication, in Louvain, in 1516. Its author, Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, diplomat, statesman, writer and philosopher, who worked for Henry VIII. Throughout the text, the often humorous dialogue between the narrator and Raphael Hythloday allowed More to voice his anger at the social injustice he saw in English society in the early 16th century. The issues he raised included the problems of political influence and capitalism, the role of surveillance, education, the nature of citizenship, and the relationship between urban and rural spaces. These issues are as topical for us today as they were for More. Utopia has a timeless relevance.

To mark the 500th anniversary we have a new display in the Treasures Gallery which seeks to place the author and his work in their historical context and illustrate the circumstances under which the text was written. The display brings together printed books and manuscripts.

The manuscripts give a sense of More‚Äôs intellectual environment and patronage by Henry VIII. Here you can see a beautifully illustrated copy of More‚Äôs verses on the king‚Äôs coronation. Henry VIII‚Äôs support was vital for More‚Äôs career. In 1517, he joined the King‚Äôs Council and in 1529 was appointed Lord Chancellor. But it was his relationship with Henry that would, ultimately, lead to his untimely death. A devout Catholic, More refused to acknowledge Henry as the Supreme Head of the Church of England, after the Reformation, and in 1535 he was executed for treason.

Alongside the selection of manuscripts, you can see a series of printed books which illustrate the text‚Äôs popularity and its afterlives. In the period that followed its publication, the Latin text was translated multiple times -- into German in 1524, Italian in 1548, French in 1550, English in 1551, Dutch in 1553, and Spanish in 1637. It was subsequently re-published in different forms and also established a new literary genre, that of the Utopian novel, which soon developed in its own right. Utopia is a work which continues to inspire authors and artists to the present day ‚Äď many works of modern science fiction use the form of the Utopian novel. The display runs until 18th September.

On this day in AD 735 the Venerable Bede died in his monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria. Bede is most famous for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, and is often affectionately known as the father of English history. However, this text was written at the end of a long career, in which Bede wrote many works on hagiography, natural science and theology. When another monk of Wearmouth-Jarrow wrote an account of Bede‚Äôs death, he described how Bede continued with his scholarly pursuits right up until his final moments. On the anniversary of Bede‚Äôs death, it seems fitting to explore some of Bede‚Äôs greatest hits, which can be found within the British Library‚Äôs manuscript collections.

Beginning of the second book from Bede‚Äôs Ecclesiastical History, England (Wearmouth-Jarrow?), c. 775-825, Cotton MS Tiberius A XIV, f. 39r

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People survives in a number of copies here at the British Library. Our earliest copy of the text can be dated to the late 8th century or the beginning of the 9th century, having been made in the decades after Bede‚Äôs death. Although this manuscript was damaged in the Ashburnham House fire in 1731, it is still possible to see ornate features such as the decorated initials above which begin book 2 of the History.

Bede‚Äôs work was widely copied within a few years of his death and for centuries thereafter. The British Library has a lavishly illuminated, early 9th-century manuscript of the Ecclesiastical History from Southumbria (Cotton MS Tiberius C II), which will soon be available in full on Digitised Manuscripts. We have also recently uploaded a 10th-century copy of the Ecclesiastical History to Digitised Manuscripts (Royal MS 13 C V).

Page from an Old English translation of Bede‚Äôs Ecclesiastical History, England, late 9th or early 10th century, Cotton MS Domitian A IX, f.11r

The British Library also holds several fragments of an Old English translation of the Ecclesiastical History written in the late 9th or early 10th century, including the recently digitised fragment in Cotton MS Domitian A IX. It is not known exactly when the Ecclesiastical History was first translated into Old English, although it is thought to have been part of King Alfred of Wessex‚Äôs programme to provide the ‚Äėbooks most needful for men to know‚Äô in English in the late 9th century.

In this same manuscript, the preface to the prose Life of St Cuthbert includes a miniature of a scribe writing at a desk. As it accompanies the preface, the figure within this drawing is often thought to be Bede himself.

Bede‚Äôs scholarly interests were not limited to history, hagiography and theology; he also wrote a number of works describing the natural world. He was the first European to note the relationship between the moon and the tides and he was skilled in very complex forms of mathematics. One of these works was entitled On the Nature of Things, and includes chapters on the creation of the world, and descriptions of astronomical and metrological features. The page above is taken from a 10th-century fragment of this text.

Bede wrote a brief introduction to the subject of computus, which was designed to give its readers basic knowledge of the methods of calculating the date of Easter. This was a tricky subject in Bede‚Äôs day, and in this work he used simple Latin and short sentences in order to make the text accessible to a beginner. Pictured above is a 13th-century English copy of the text, and is accompanied by an illustration of four zodiac figures; Aries, Gemini, Taurus, and Cancer.

Page from Bede's De temporibus illustrated with a diagram of the sun, moon, earth and planets, Egerton MS 3088 f. 17v

In addition to these other works, Bede wrote a number of letters throughout his life. The letter on the page below is a 12th-century copy of a letter written by Bede to Bishop Ecgberht of York only a few months before Bede‚Äôs death in May 735. In this letter, Bede is heavily critical of the current state of the Northumbrian Church and outlines various ways in which it could be reformed. Within this letter, Bede explains to Ecgberht that he is writing a letter because he is physically unable to travel to York in order to speak to Ecgberht in person. This gives some sense of Bede‚Äôs declining health in the months before his death.

Cuthbert, a monk from Wearmouth-Jarrow, wrote an account of Bede‚Äôs death in the form of a letter. This letter can often be found in manuscripts of Bede‚Äôs Ecclesiastical History such as Harley MS 3680, copied in the 12th century. In his account of Bede‚Äôs death Cuthbert included a short poem, which he claimed was composed by Bede in Old English upon his deathbed. The poem translates as:

Facing that enforced journey, no man can be

More prudent than he has good call to be,

If he consider, before his going hence,

What for his spirit of good hap or of evil

After his day of death shall be determined.

Trans. J. McClure and R. Collins (eds), The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Oxford, 1994), p. 301

Cuthbert described how, upon hearing this poem, he and his fellow monks shared in Bede‚Äôs sorrow. He claims that they ‚Äėread and wept by turns‚Äô or wept continually as they read. Their reaction demonstrates that Bede was heavily valued as a scholar and a teacher at Wearmouth-Jarrow. Perhaps there are also a few modern readers of this blog who will shed a little tear on this anniversary of Bede‚Äôs death.

~Becky Lawton

Posted by Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Manuscripts at 12:01 AM

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The British Library‚Äôs Digitised Manuscripts website reveals a number of remarkable things in the text and decoration of over 1460 complete manuscripts (and counting). One thing Digitised Manuscripts cannot show you, however, is the actual size of the manuscripts, since our viewer is limited by the size of your screen. Medieval book-makers did not have those limitations, and the British Library‚Äôs manuscripts come in all shapes and sizes.

We recently uploaded a two-volume Anglo-Saxon Bible to Digitised Manuscripts (Royal MS 1 E VII and Royal MS 1 E VIII). These volumes are notable for a number of reasons: first, they form one of only two more or less complete Bibles which were made in England before 1066 and which still survive. Secondly, they are remarkable for their large size, measuring 570 x 350 mm (making it the size of a small child). Here‚Äôs one of these volumes next to a 22 cm ruler.

At the other end of the scale‚ÄĒliterally‚ÄĒthe British Library recently acquired a very small manuscript, known as the Taverner Prayerbook (Add MS 88991). Probably made for Anne Seymour (b. c. 1497, d. 1587), Countess of Hertford and later Duchess of Somerset, this manuscript contains a number of prayers and beautifully detailed illumination on pages measuring only 70 x 52 mm.

But the Taverner Prayerbook is by no means the smallest manuscript in the British Library‚Äôs collection. For example, the tiny Stowe MS 956 may have been worn on a necklace or girdle and is only slightly bigger than a modern postage stamp.

Portrait of Henry VIII, from Psalms in English Verse, South East England, c. 1540, Stowe MS 956, ff. 1v-2r

In between these, there are many other interestingly shaped manuscripts at the British Library, from long thin almanacs designed to be worn on belts to the earliest surviving ‚Äėpocket-sized‚Äô English law book (Cotton MS Nero A I) to the recentlyacquired St Cuthbert Gospel (Add MS 89000). That handy manuscript is just slightly larger than a person's palm.

You can see the St Cuthbert Gospel and many of the other manuscripts mentioned in this post on Digitised Manuscripts, but remember to check the dimensions listed in the 'Full Display' page: size matters!

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Dunstan (d. 988), whose feast is celebrated on 19 May, was a scholar and reformer, but also a craftsman, said to have been a skilled metalworker, painter, embroiderer, musician, and even organ-builder. He was later claimed by goldsmiths, jewellers, and locksmiths as their patron saint.

The British Library collections include several delightful images of Dunstan as a bishop, though his biographers claimed that this was a role he took only reluctantly.

The key source for Dunstan's life is a biography by one of his colleagues, known only by the first letter of his name, B. The British Library has digitized one of the key sources for this work, Cotton MS Cleopatra B. xiii.

Dunstan himself took a keen interest in manuscripts. He is depicted as a scribe in Royal MS 10 A. xiii, f. 2v. The Life of Dunstan in Arundel MS 16, f. 2r, which includes an initial with an image of the scribe, 'Osbearnus', being incensed, might have been a reference to this. His representation as a scribe may have had some basis in reality: the 'St Dunstan's classbook', now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. F. 4. 32 (SC 2176), includes on f. 1r an illustration of Christ with a monk at his feet in prayer. In the thirteenth century, an inscription was added at the top of the page declaring it to be the work of Dunstan himself. Whether or not this is true, it is still thought that two lines of verse written above the monk's head are in his hand:

Merciful Christ, I ask you to defend me, Dunstan, That you may not permit the storms of Taenarus to swallow me.

The reference to Taenarus, the mythical entrance to the underworld, reflects the classical learning of the Anglo-Saxons (he might have picked up the reference from Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.13 or Virgil, Georgics 4.467). Some of Dunstan's own books even survive, notably the Bosworth psalter, Add. MS 37517, and a pontifical (a book containing texts of liturgical rites performed by a bishop), now Paris, Biblioth√®que Nationale, MS lat. 943.

Dunstan was equally comfortable in church and court, and his earliest biographers portrayed him in close company with Kings Edmund (920/21‚Äď946) and Eadred (d. 955). As a result, he is associated with the so-called ‚ÄėDunstan B‚Äô charters of King Eadred, sometimes thought to have been written by Dunstan himself.

As an artisan, however, Dunstan might have been most satisfied with his portrait in Harley MS 315, f. 15v, where he is cheerfully pinching a demon's nose with a pair of tongs. Harley 315 is on display at the Wellcome Collection until 31 July 2016 as part of its This is a Voice exhibition.

Initial from the Life of Dunstan in the Canterbury Passionale, second quarter of the 12th century, London, British Library, Harley MS 315, f. 15v.

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May 12 is St Pancras‚Äôs Day, writes Peter Toth. As the name of London‚Äôs second busiest railway and underground station, the name ‚ÄėSt Pancras‚Äô is well known to many Londoners, as well as travellers from abroad, as the station is the terminus for Eurostar trains arriving from Europe.

The station is also across the road from the British Library. Colin St John Wilson's iconic, red-brick design for the library visually riffs on St Pancras Station's Victorian architecture. But how many of the thousands of people who pass through St Pancras Station and past the British Library each day are aware of the story behind the name?

Not much is known about the martyr St Pancras. The main source for his life is a short Latin account of his martyrdom. According to this text, Pancras was born to a wealthy Christian family somewhere in Phrygia (in modern day Turkey). After the death of his parents, he moved to Rome with his guardian. There Pancras and his guardian gave shelter to Christians persecuted by the Emperor Diocletian (284-305 CE). When the Emperor heard of Pancras‚Äôs efforts to save Christians, he immediately summoned him. To his surprise, he discovered that Pancras was only 14 years old and, seeing his youth and determination, subjected him to a long trial.

According to this account, Diocletian was impressed by Pancras, telling him, ‚ÄúMy dear boy, take my advice and save yourself and give up this madness and I will treat you as my own son.‚ÄĚ But, even after a long discussion to dissuade him from Christianity, Pancras remained true to his faith. Enraged, the Emperor ordered his immediate execution. Pancras was beheaded and buried by the Via Aureliana in Rome around 287CE.

As with many of the early Christian martyrs, it was not his life or even his martyrdom that made Pancras' cult so popular, but the miracles associated with his tomb and relics. In around 590CE Gregory, the archbishop of Tours in France, claimed that anyone making a false oath at the saint‚Äôs tomb would be seized by a demon or would collapse and die. Consequently, an oath on Saint Pancras' relics was thought so potent that it could be held up in court as proof of a witness's testimony.

No wonder, therefore, that Pancras‚Äôs relics were soon distributed to many other churches, towns and countries, including far-flung regions like Britain.

End of Pope Vitalian‚Äôs letter to Oswiu, from Bede‚Äôs Ecclesiastical History of the English People, England (Wearmouth-Jarrow?), c. 775-825, Cotton MS Tiberius A XIV, f. 111r

Perhaps the earliest written reference to the cult of Pancras in Britain comes from a letter from Pope Vitalian to King Oswiu of Northumbria in the 660s, copied by Bede into his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The British Library has recently digitised a very early copy of Bede‚Äôs History (Cotton Tiberius A XIV). Vitalian mentions that he has sent Oswiu‚Äôs messengers back with relics of St Pancras and other Roman saints. The relics of Pancras sent by popes to England may have been used to re-consecrate old Romano-British churches or to set up new churches. As a result, churches dedicated to Pancras often claim to be among the oldest in Britain. These include St Pancras Old Church in Camden, a church near the British Library, from which the railway station takes its name.

From the 18th century onwards, St Pancras Old Church was widely regarded as one of the earliest churches in England. Although historical and archaeological evidence shows that the church does have early medieval origins, its early history before it is mentioned in Domesday Book is difficult to unravel. Efforts to do so, however, have resulted in important finds and discoveries.

One of the residents of the area, Ambrose Heal Sr, chairman of Heal‚Äôs Furniture in the early 1900‚Äôs, gathered a considerable collection of materials related to the parish of St Pancras. It was his enthusiasm for documents relating to Pancras that led him to acquire an eleventh-century manuscript containing one of the earliest copies of the life and the office (a set of prayers and hymns) of the saint. This manuscript, which his widow generously bequeathed to the British Library in 1914, is a part of a large collection of saints‚Äô lives from eleventh-century Fulda, in what is now Germany.

St Pancras‚Äôs name marks a large spot on London‚Äôs street map, but the figure of the fourteen-year old Roman child-martyr himself is now forgotten. 12th May, the anniversary of his execution in Rome, is a good occasion to reflect on his long journey from early Christian Rome to the centre of Britain's bustling capital.

The Cycle of Alexander the Great, a group of stories surrounding the great hero of antiquity, is dealt with at length in H.L.D. Ward‚Äôs Catalogue of Romances in the British Museum, along with other legends with classical origins: Apollonius of Tyre, The Destruction of Jerusalem and The Prophecy of the Tenth Sybil. Some of our most beautifully illuminated manuscripts of the Roman d‚ÄôAlexandre and the Histoire Ancienne, containing the legends of Alexander the Great, have been fully digitised, including Additional MS 15268, produced in Acre in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the late 13th century.

No earlier forebears are mentioned. In time, though, a popular hero like Alexander needed to have more than one illustrious ancestor, and so a prequel involving a fearless hero, Florimont, his paternal grandfather, came to light.

The Village of Chatillon d‚ÄôAzergues (Rhone, France), photographed by Milardello, 2009

Aimon de Varennes, a native of Chatillon d‚ÄôAzergues in the Lyonnais district of France, claims to have unearthed the tale of Florimont during a trip to Philippopolis (now Plovdiv, Bulgaria) in the late 12th century. He may have in fact travelled to that part of the world, but his assertion that he translated the text from Greek to Latin and then into French appears to be fictive, though he retains certain ‚ÄėGreek‚Äô words, which in fact demonstrate a very elementary knowledge of the language. The author‚Äôs intentions and his claims as to the origins of the tale are laid out at the beginning of the text in Harley MS 4487, one of the manuscripts of the text in the British Library:

The romance of Florimont is in two parts, beginning with the story of the original King Philip I of Macedonia, whose daughter and heiress, Romadanaple married Florimont (‚Äėflower of the world‚Äô), son of Mataquas, Duke of Albania. Their son, Philip II, married Olympias and was father to Alexander the Great.

Olympias giving birth to Alexander the Great, with two eagles on the roof of the palace (foretelling Alexander's two empires in Europe and Asia), Netherlands, S. (Bruges); c. 1485 ‚Äď 1490, Royal MS 20 C III f. 15r

In some versions of the legend, Nectanebus, the last pharaoh, is involved in Alexander‚Äôs conception, as depicted in this miniature from a manuscript of the Roman d‚ÄôAlexandre en Prose.

The conception of Alexander, with Nectanebus in the form of a dragon, flying over Queen Olympias and King Philip in bed, Roman d‚ÄôAlexandre en prose, France, N. or Netherlands, S., 1st quarter of the 14th century, Royal MS 20 A V, f. 6r

He defeats Camdiobras, king of Hungary, enemy of Mataquas of Albania, and is awarded the hand of his daughter, Romadanaple, together with his lands, which he unites with his own.

Ward‚Äôs Catalogue lists two manuscripts of the Romance of Florimont in the British Library. Both have recently been digitised, as, although they are not illustrated, they are important early copies of the text and contain examples of the south-eastern dialect of French. The earliest of the two manuscripts, Harley MS 4487, is dated to 1295 in the scribal colophon and on the previous page the author states that French is not his mother tongue:

In May 1373, a 30 and a half year-old woman lay dying. A local priest arrived to give her the last rites and held a crucifix in front of her. In that moment, however, the woman‚ÄĒJulian of Norwich‚ÄĒ experienced a series of visions, ranging from graphic details of Christ‚Äôs passion to an image of a humble hazelnut. When she miraculously recovered from her illness, this experience formed the basis for Julian‚Äôs Revelations of Divine Love, the first book in English which is known to have been authored by a woman. This book continues to be studied and to challenge theologians today. In particular, Julian is famous for her extended comparison of God to a mother:

'when [a child] is hurt or frightened it runs to its mother for help as fast as it can; and [God] wants us to do the same, like a humble child, saying, "My kind Mother, my gracious Mother, my dearest Mother, take pity on me"' (trans. by Elizabeth Spearing, Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love (London: Penguin 1998), p. 144).

Since some of our American readers are celebrating Mothers‚Äô Day today, it seems like a good occasion to highlight Julian and her writings.

Description of Julian‚Äôs illness and vision in 1373, from a shortened version of Julian of Norwich‚Äôs Revelations of Divine Love, England, 15th century, Add MS 37790, f. 97v

Julian spent much of her life as an anchoress, or religious recluse, in a room attached to the Church of St Julian at Conisford in Norwich. Her writings do not reveal much about her life before she became an anchoress. The learning she displayed might suggest that she was an educated woman, possibly a Benedictine nun. On the other hand, her descriptions of some crucifixion scenes and her interest in Christ as mother might indicate that she was a mother or had given birth herself. She composed both a long version and a short version of her Revelations (also called The Showingsof Julian of Norwich). Julian probably either wrote or dictated the long version around 1393, since she states that it took her 19 years and 9 months (‚Äėtwenty yere saue thre monthys‚Äô) to fully understand the visions she had in 1373.

Julian‚Äôs works seem to have been popular and were copied during her own lifetime. Other mystics, like Margery Kempe, visited Julian‚Äôs cell, because she was ‚Äėan expert in such things [i.e. visions] and could give good counsel‚Äô (‚Äė√ĺe ankres was expert in swech thyngys and good cownsel cowd 3euyn‚Äô). Her writings give the impression that Julian was a kind and reassuring counselor: she famously stated that God would ensure that ‚ÄėAll shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.‚Äô

If you are in London between now and 31 July 2016, you can see a 17th-century copy of Julian‚Äôs Revelations at the Wellcome Collection‚Äôs THIS IS A VOICE exhibition. The long version of Julian‚Äôs Revelations primarily survives in 17th-century copies, which shows how close this important theologian‚Äôs work came to being lost altogether. Julian‚Äôs works are being displayed near works of other famous women writers who had visions or heard voices, from Virginia Woolf to Julian's contemporary and acquaintance, Margery Kempe, who wrote the earliest known autobiography of an English person. Mother‚Äôs Day is also a good occasion to remember Margery: by her own account, she had 14 children.

~Alison Hudson

Posted by Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Manuscripts at 12:01 AM

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Here at the British Library (writes Julian Harrison) we look after everything from early papyri to the state papers of Tudor monarchs. Our Printed Books colleagues care for no fewer than 5 copies of the Shakespeare First Folio, 2 of which are currently on display in London (Shakespeare in Ten Acts). And that brings us to the topic of today's blogpost: how does the historical Macbeth differ from his portrayal for the stage by William Shakespeare?

King and Pilgrim

Let's start with what we know about the real, historical Macbeth. The most succinct account is found in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry by Professor Dauvit Broun (available to subscribers online), which I summarise here. Macbeth became king of Moray in 1032 when his cousin, Gille Comg√°in mac Ma√≠l Brigte, was burnt with 50 of his followers, possibly at Macbeth's instigation. Gille Comg√°in had killed Macbeth's father in 1020; intriguingly, Macbeth then married Gille Comg√°in's widow, Gruoch (the real Lady Macbeth). In 1040, Duncan I, king of Scots, led a campaign against Moray, culminating in Duncan's death in battle against Macbeth, probably at Pitgaveny near Elgin. As a result, Macbeth then became king of Scots. Macbeth was the first reigning Scottish king to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome, in 1050, where he ‚Äėscattered money like seed to the poor‚Äô; and in 1052 he was the first to take Norman knights into his own service. However, in 1054 he was challenged by Malcolm Canmore, Duncan I's now adult son, with the support of a Northumbrian army. A bloody battle took place on 27 July, probably at Dunsinane, after which Macbeth was forced to concede land to Malcolm. Malcolm then challenged Macbeth a second time, and he killed him on 15 August 1057 at Lumphanan in Mar. Macbeth was succeeded as king by his stepson, Lulach, whose father, Gille Comg√°in, had been killed by Macbeth.

One of the earliest narrative accounts of the life of Macbeth is found in the Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, preserved uniquely in a manuscript at the British Library (and available on our Digitised Manuscripts site). This account was copied around 1174, but it is based on older source material. The Melrose Chronicle has intrigued me for many years (together with Dauvit Broun I found a new fragment of it at the British Library, and our account of the manuscript was published by the Scottish History Society in 2007). The historical Macbeth is mentioned a handful of times in this Melrose text. In 1039 (the chronology is slightly astray) he is said to have usurped the throne upon the death of King Duncan; in 1050 he visited Rome, where he distributed alms; finally, in 1054, Siward, earl of Northumbria, invaded Scotland at the behest of Edward of Confessor, defeated Macbeth in battle (whereupon Macbeth fled), and installed Malcolm in his place. No mention of daggers, witches or windswept heaths, no Banquo, Fleance or Macduff, no Lady Macbeth walking in her sleep. It's all rather disappointing, if you've been brought up on a diet of Shakespeare.

References to Macbeth in the Chronicle of Melrose Abbey (London, British Library, Cotton MS Faustina B IX, ff. 12v, 13r, 13v): (a) his succession to the throne in 1039; (b) his pilgrimage to Rome in 1050; (c) his defeat in battle in 1054.

The Tragedy of Macbeth

What, then, do we know about Shakespeare's Macbeth? The play was first printed in the First Folio (1623), published 7 years after its author's death. Indeed, Macbeth is one of several Shakespearean plays whose text would probably be unknown but for the First Folio: other plays published for the first time in 1623 include The Tempest, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar. We suspect, however, that Macbeth was written in the early years of the reign of King James I of England (1603‚Äď25). James Shapiro has recently argued that it contains echoes of the infamous Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605 (1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear, Faber & Faber, 2015). James I was patron of the King's Men, Shakespeare's acting troupe, and he had a particular interest in demonology and witchcraft, which underpin Shakespeare's play.

The first recorded performance of what is probably Macbeth took place in London in 1611. Over the next 400 years, many leading actors have taken on the r√īles of Macbeth and his partner in crime, Lady Macbeth, among them Richard Burbage, David Garrick, Sarah Siddons and, most recently, Michael Fassbender. A stand-out production is often said to be that directed for the Royal Shakespeare Company by Trevor Nunn (1976), starring Ian McKellen and Judi Dench. But two of the most significant versions of Macbeth involved Laurence Olivier: first, the Birmingham Rep production in modern-dress at the Court Theatre in London in 1928 (one member of the audience commented on the Second Murderer's Bowler Hat); and secondly, opposite his wife, Vivien Leigh, at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1955.

Portrait of Sarah Siddons as Lady Macbeth, by George Henry Harlow (1814), copyright Garrick Club, currently on display at the British Library; photograph of Vivien Leigh as Lady Macbeth by Angus McBean, currently on display at the Library of Birmingham

Humming A Gaelic Song

You can see artefacts from the Olivier/Leigh production of Macbeth at the British Library (until 6 September 2016) and at the Library of Birmingham (until 3 September). Contemporary critics were quietly reserved about Vivien Leigh's seductive performance as Lady Macbeth ('more viper than anaconda', wrote Kenneth Tynan), but over time they have revised their opinions, and count it among her finest r√īles. Her beautiful, green silk dress and embroidered gown for the part is on display in London, having been kindly loaned by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Meanwhile, some of Angus McBean's photographs of Olivier and Leigh are on show in the Library of Birmingham's Our Shakespeare exhibition (organised jointly with the British Library). Also in Birmingham are other items from the British Library's Olivier archive relating to his proposed follow-up film of Macbeth, possibly the greatest Shakespeare film never made. These include Laurence Olivier's own annotated screenplay for the film. I am especially fond of the direction when the witches appear: ‚ÄėMacbeth is seen to stop. We CUT to him incredulously listening to the prophesies, which seem to emanate from the hills. Banquo rides gently on oblivious of these happenings, humming a Gaelic song.'

Two pages from Laurence Olivier's annotated screenplay for his never-made film of Macbeth (London, British Library, Add MS 80508), currently on display at the Library of Birmingham

Separating Truth from Fiction

So let's recount: which facts does William Shakespeare get right in The Tragedy of Macbeth?

According to Shakespeare, Macbeth stabs to death the sleeping Duncan, who is a guest at Macbeth's castle? Wrong, Duncan dies in battle against Macbeth.

Macbeth is Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor. Wrong again, Macbeth is King of Moray (these false titles originated with Hector Boece, whose account was copied in turn in Ralph Holinshed's Chronicles, Shakespeare's chief source for Macbeth).

An English army defeats Macbeth at Dunsinane, and he is killed by Macduff. Third time unlucky, alas. There was a battle at Dunsinane, in 1054, but Macbeth remained king for a further 3 years. One fact that Shakespeare does get 'right' is the death of the 'young Siward' during the Northumbrian invasion: this refers to the death of Osbeorn, son of Earl Siward, at the hands of the Scots, though doubtless not in single combat fighting Macbeth.

But then again, why let the facts get in the way of a good story?! Which version of Macbeth do you prefer, the historical alms-giver or the blood-thirsty regicide?

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